


Warm Winter

by yuletide_archivist



Category: The Crow - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-13
Updated: 2004-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:31:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1626866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for LithiumDoll</p>
    </blockquote>





	Warm Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LithiumDoll

 

 

A/N: Although this request was for the television canon of The Crow, a minor detail from comic/movie canon was added for the sake of story...tho you might not notice anyways. Onward :)

"Warm Winter"

_Ou sont les neiges d'anton- Villon_

Winter in Detroit. Save for the recognizable buildings, it could just as well be winter in any big city, cold and gray, with patches of loneliness and desolation. It's a time of year that means different things to different people. Happiness for some and bittersweet memories for others.

Sarah Mohr would be one of those others.

She'll navigate her skateboard down the streets with its thin layer of snow and think things over. Even if she believes she's supposed to be happy with things looking up in her life now- her mom finally sobering up and getting a decent job- it'll still be a bittersweet Christmas for her. It'll be another Christmas without Eric and Shelley.

Well, only without Eric in a true, physical, tangible sense. His mysterious return from- Heaven, Hell, the other side, whatever you wanted to call it- was something that had to be an absolute secret among a select few for now, possibly for forever. If word about his reappearance got out, if the wrong person saw him-

They could easily believe that Eric killed Shelley and just went into hiding.

Sarah shuddered at the morbid thought. _That's_ not _what happened. I know it; I just know it, even if Albrecht doesn't want to believe it!_

The young girl shook her head and decided to think about happier times, during the period when her mom was too sick to take care of her, and Eric and Shelley provided a home away from home. They'd become the brother and sister she never had, and the parents she'd so desperately needed.

Even in the sparseness of their apartment, there had always been so much love to go around all year-round, not just during the holidays. When you looked past the frost of snow on the window, the decorations and similar details, you could see the spirit of the season and the cozy atmosphere. Eric and Shelley had lived simple lives, but they'd had each other and for the most part, that was all they'd needed.

 _If only more people were like that,_ Sarah thought glumly as she skated by a row of gaudily decorated storefronts. 'Celebrate The Season With Big Holiday Savings! Don't Forget!'

Good God.

You didn't have to be old and cynical to know that some people had just totally forgotten what this time of year was supposed to be all about.

Sarah already considered herself cynical after Eric and Shelley died.

After a few more blocks of skating, she made it to the apartment complex that Eric still called home. Even from where she stood, she could look up and still see the broken window. She tucked her skateboard under one arm and made her way inside.

The further Sarah ascended the stairs, the more she could hear the faint strains of guitar music, and recognize it as one the old songs Eric had done with Hangman's Joke. Shelley and music- the two things Eric always felt he could never live without.

Eventually Sarah made it to the top floor and saw Eric's door was open just a crack. He was indeed sitting on the ledge next to the window, guitar in his hands and lost in his craft. She silently stepped in the room, and was about five feet in before he finally noticed.

Eric looked up, his features brooding and handsome as usual. "Oh, hello, Sarah! I didn't see you come in."

"I...kinda let myself in," she said, stepping further into the room with its familiar sparseness. "I just thought I'd stop by before Mom has to get off of work."

"Hmm." Eric turned towards the window and looked out. "It's a good thing you dropped by when you did, then."

The young girl looked out as well, and saw snow starting to fall. _Just a light snow, nothing I can't handle,_ she thought and pulled up a chair to sit down on.

After a while of silence, she finally spoke up, "I really needed to thank you, Eric."

He looked back from the guitar strings he was tuning to her. "Thank me," he asked with a smile. "What for?"

As if he didn't know.

She grinned and shrugged. "Oh, I pretty much figured out you had something to with Mom losing the bottle and getting a better job. I mean, there's almost no way she would've done that on her own, you know?"

The silence was almost awkward before Eric put down his guitar and kneeled down in front of Sarah. "I had to give her a wake-up call," he said quietly. "No one should have to live in that kind of environment, and you certainly didn't deserve it. Besides..." he trailed off, sighed, ran a hand through his long hair, and looked around the room before settling his eyes back on Sarah.

'I don't like where this is heading,' she thought, her good mood suddenly dying, and he finished:

"I can't be around forever to make sure you're OK. It's not the same as before."

'I knew it.' The young girl lowered her head, wishing she could just shrink into her shoes. It was inevitable that Eric would have to go back sometime, watching over her wasn't the only reason he was here- but it wasn't something she had wanted to think about, especially at a time of year that was supposed to be happy.

"I know, Sarah, I know," he said as if he'd read her mind, and hugged her tightly, the way he and Shelley used too.

Sarah sniffed back a tear and returned the embrace. _I am really going to miss you, Eric._ "Maybe I better head for home now," she mumbled and pulled away, and tucked her skateboard under her arm again.

"Yeah." Eric just stayed where he was, kneeling and watching his young friend leave the room.

"Could there...is there anything I could get you, maybe?" Sarah asked when she reached the door, even if she already knew the answer.

Eric shook his head like she expected. "Those kinds of things don't matter to me...the one thing I really want I have to get on my own."

"I understand," she nodded and gently touched the bump on her shirt where Shelley's ring lay underneath, still on its chain and close to her heart. Of the miniscule presents she'd received, that one meant more to her than anything.

She could see Eric smile faintly, himself understanding as well.

"Merry Christmas," she smiled back and slowly left the apartment.

"You too, Sarah," she could just hear as she made her way down the stairs.

By the time she was outside again, the snowfall had already ended.

 


End file.
